Chapter 930 The Guild’s Teleportation Circles
With but a quick signature accepting the mission and agreeing to secrecy, Marcus and Mrazivý were now official members of the expedition to explore the new landmass that had suddenly appeared where one had not been before.
"In all honesty, I have already delayed the expedition about as long as I could while waiting for you both to return. The other Grand Masters of the guild have been berating me to quicken my pace recruiting people, and even the leader of the guild has been less inclined to allow me more extensions as of late. It would be best if you could both be ready to depart in two days' time." Valerius said.
It was easy to tell by his expression that he had been getting pressure from above, and even for someone as high-level and experienced as him, that was never a fun occurrence.
'Will two days be enough?' Marcus thought.
There were a number of things that he planned on doing now that they were back home, but needing to leave so suddenly would limit his options.
Among the things that he wanted to do was to see Lilia, but now it was likely the best he could do was leave some letters behind for her when she showed back up from her training to become a Grand Witch.
The most pertinent items on his list now would be to get into the forge and make some of the items he had been planning on creating.
After their trip to Aezam, he had obtained a tressure trove of materials to work with and getting powerful magic items ready for their journey into an unknown land was paramount. One could never be too prepared for the worst.
"I can be prepared in two days. What about you Marcus?" Mrazivý asked.
Marcus began going over a few quick calculations on how much time he would need to forge the bare minimum of magic items he wanted.
'Truly I am lucky I have no physical need to eat or sleep. If I work without rest, it should be possible.'
Nodding his head, Marcus agreed that they could leave after two days of preparations.
A part of him really did want more time to leisurely relax since they had just arrived back home, but this mission was once in a lifetime and would not wait for them. Plus, it was their assigned duty to appease the guild and make sure that its ties to Borealia stayed strong.
...
'Finished. Only about an hour to spare, but I managed to get it done.'
In his hand Marcus held an anklet made of amethros and a large magic core embedded in the front of it.
Magical etchings were visible all across the surface of the accessory and the item would be considered a national treasure if it did not belong just to Marcus.
He had made a few items for himself in the last two days, but this was the only thing he had created for Mrazivý. As impressive as the item was, it was actually useless for him.
It utilized the core of the mummy lord and Marcus' deepened understanding of how the aura of undeath negatively affected the living that he gained from being immersed in the Font of Death for so long to create a protective barrier. With this item even an infant would be able to stand in the presence of a lich and not fall to their deathly presence that desecrated life.
After their recent foray into such an inhospitable region, Marcus knew that he needed to make something like this. The magic item would be indispensable when they headed off to collect the core of a Ghost King or encountered any other powerful undead entities.
Satisfied in his work, Marcus left the castle's amethros forge that was unknown to all but a select few and made his way to where Mrazivý was waiting for him.
Today was the day that they were going to be traveling farther from home than they ever had. As far away as Aezam had been, it was still on the same continent. Where they were traveling to next was a great distance from Borealia than between the two poles on Earth
Nevertheless, this monumental journey was going to take naught but a couple of days, and the great majority of the distance would be travelled in one.
"So, this is what the guild's teleportation circles look like" Marcus said in awe.
Etched into the ground before them, made of an unfamiliar stone that had flecks of all manner of magical beast and monster bones mixed into it was a complicated enchantment that was difficult even for Marcus to understand. It glowed with faint purple light and gave off an intense magical essence.
Space magic was extremely rare, and creating permeant travel points that functioned without an expert present was far from an easy or practical feat. Yet the guild had a circle within the main branch of every nation that partnered with them.
Using the circle cost an exorbitant amount of mana that it acquired from consuming high grade magic cores. Just teleporting to the nearest connecting circle would take several cores from beasts or monsters that were over level forty. To go even farther required far more than that.
Of course, not just anyone could use these circles. Only those that were at the mithril rank or higher were allowed to, and most of the time they would need to supply their own magic cores as fuel along with a substantial fee in gold. Such an amazing service did not come free after all.
However, Marcus and Mrazivý were getting their first ever trip through a teleportation circle without any charge.
The mission that Valerius had personally asked them to join was of great importance to the guild. There was no need to worry about costs when the Grand Master of the Quadrant was the one accompanying them. All red tape had been handwaved without issue.
"This here is one of the guild's greatest powers. It is without a doubt that our transportation network is leagues above anything else in the world and is one of the reasons that we an organization that spans the globe." Valerius said with a proud expression.
After he had finished extolling the virtues of the guild and the benefits that came with Marcus' and Mrazivý's new status as mithril rank adventurers, the mage that was stationed to control the teleportation circle informed them that it was ready for their departure.
"Make sure to brace yourselves. The first trip is almost always nauseating, and with the distance we are going in one go it is only likely to be worse." Valerius warned.
From the look on his face, Marcus was able to discern that he was bitterly remembering his first time using a teleportation circle and that his warning came from experience.
'Thought his not out first-time using teleportation circles. The special dungeon utilized them as well and they were not difficult to handle.' Marcus thought.
Expect the circles he was used to were created by the administrator herself, a being with god like powers. These teleportation circles created by the guild were not nearly as high spec.